May 22, 2014 -
Beginning this week on White Avenue, and continuing into August, the Knoxville Utilities Board and its contractor will be making wastewater collection system improvements throughout the Fort Sanders neighborhood.

Weather permitting, Fort Sanders motorists should anticipate lane closures along sections of White Avenue between James Agee Street and 14th Street daily from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. through Tuesday, June 3.

Later in the summer, work will proceed to James Agee Street and a half-dozen other roads in Fort Sanders - part of KUB's summer-long PACE 10 wastewater collection system improvement project.

KUB has committed to upgrades totaling more than $500 million over a decade to significantly decrease the number of sewer overflows and improve the water quality of area creeks and rivers.

KUB's summer work in Fort Sanders has been scheduled to take advantage of the lower number of residents due to the break between the University of Tennessee spring and fall semesters. The work will be spread out across the neighborhood over time, to minimize lane closures and temporary parking restrictions.

Meanwhile, a previously announced (and unrelated) University of Tennessee utility upgrade is underway that will close two lanes of Cumberland Avenue for roughly two months.

Like the KUB project, the UT upgrade is good for the environment.

UT's steam line, which crosses Cumberland Avenue, is being upgraded. The university's steam plant uses 11 miles of underground steam pipes to provide heating and hot water for more than 150 buildings, and this summer's upgrade is tied to UT eliminating coal use completely by transitioning to natural gas. The conversion will lead to decreased emissions of pollutants, less-costly fuel oil delivery and a better water treatment system.

The work, which will close two lanes of Cumberland Avenue between 11th and 13th streets, will begin once water, gas and sewer lines are relocated. The project is to be completed by Aug. 10.

Once the two lanes of Cumberland are closed, eastbound commuters will shift to the two westbound lanes. Westbound commuters will be detoured to 11th Street, then to Clinch Avenue and then to 16th Street.

The City's Engineering Department recommends that westbound motorists take a different route, since the detour route will squeeze traffic from a normal two lanes to a single lane. One suggested alternative route: Go west on Western Avenue to Middlebrook Pike and on to Sutherland Avenue.